1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 155 The California Oligarch

The Sacramento River, also known as the American River, is the largest river in the state of California. Its entire basin is in the state of California. The source of the river is near Mount Shasta.

Most of California is a semi-arid region with a Mediterranean climate, and the spatiotemporal distribution of water is extremely uneven. Rainfall is concentrated in early November and late April, and water resources are concentrated in the sparsely populated northwestern region. scarcity.

If agriculture is to be developed, water resources will become an obstacle restricting the development of agriculture in California.

The best solution is naturally nothing more than building water conservancy projects to allocate water resources.

In addition, the American River with a total length of 615km, of which 290km is navigable, will be the only traffic artery between San Francisco and Sacramento before the completion of the railway connecting the two places.

The behavior of damming and diverting water has affected the normal navigation of the navigable section of the American River.

At present, more than 90% of California's population lives in and around San Francisco and Sacramento.

In order to ensure the normal operation of the two places and ensure the traffic order between the two places, it is also necessary to prohibit gold diggers from damming the American River.

Liang Yao had also built a dam on the American River in the past to extract the gold under the river bed, but this time and another time.

At that time, the American River was not yet fully navigable, and there were not many farmlands on both sides of the river. The negative impact of damming and cutting off the flow of gold mining was minimal.

Furthermore, Liang Yao only builds dams on river sections where gold is distributed on both sides of the river, and now many irrational gold diggers don't care whether there are river sections with gold, as long as it is a section of the American River, they can build dams to cut off the flow and pan for gold. .

"It costs a lot of money to build large-scale water conservancy projects. The state government can't afford so much money now, and new farmland must be reclaimed. With the growth rate of California's population, the population is likely to exceed [-] this year, and our local food supply It is very difficult to supply [-] people with production.

My personal suggestion is to first develop the land with abundant water resources along the San Joaquin River in the Central Valley. Of course, if you want to ensure a good harvest in the coming year, the necessary water conservancy projects are still indispensable.

Immigrants who are willing to reclaim wasteland can join agricultural associations, or form reclamation companies and groups by themselves, and the state government will take the lead in the construction of necessary water conservancy facilities.

Finally, I suggest that the Central Valley be designated as an agricultural land in the state. There is no gold there, and no other valuable mineral resources have been found so far, so it is not suitable for the development of mining. "

The United States has a lot of land suitable for cultivation, and it is also very large. The large area of ​​cultivated land is mainly concentrated in the central Great Plains and the eastern region.The area of ​​cultivated land in the west is not large.

The Central Valley is a rare large-scale cultivated land in the west. Liang Yao regards this piece of fertile land as the strategic granary of California. Before large-scale development, there are few settlers and immigrants, so laws must be promulgated in advance to protect it.

If you wait for more people to deal with this problem in the future, it will be far more troublesome and costly than dealing with it now.

The 5.8 square kilometers of arable land, as long as it is properly developed and the water conservancy facilities are complete, can support millions of people even without the addition of chemical fertilizers.

"What if mineral resources are discovered in the future?" A member of Parliament raised his doubts.

"All non-agricultural land in the Central Valley must apply to the state legislature and the state government. The state legislature and the government will approve the mineral resources that need to be mined depending on the specific situation." Liang Yao replied.

After Liang Yao finished speaking, the proposal to ban gold panning activities on both sides of the American River was approved.

The news of the mining owners and congressmen is also very well-informed, and the news that the western Nevada region has been included in California is already well known in California.

Many mining companies that arrived in the Nevada area first have found new gold mining areas, but most of the land in the Nevada area is still in the hands of Liang Yao.

There is no need for those mine owners to make trouble with Liang Yao because of Sacramento, a place where all gold has been mined.

After all, the mine owners who are obsessed with the abandoned mining area in Sacramento are just a few small-minded small mine owners and private gold diggers. The mine owners and gold prospectors with real strength and vision have shifted their focus of gold panning to inland mountainous areas since the end of last year. , looking for new gold producing areas.

Following the prohibition of gold panning on both banks of the American River, came the question of incentives and guarantees for farming farmers and companies.

Liang Yao set an example, saying that the Bank of America will continue to provide low-interest loans and low-price farm tools for farmers and companies to support them in reclaiming more wasteland. Farmers provide considerate service.

After Liang Yao made his statement, Robinson also represented Bank of Boston, expressing that Boston Corporation was also willing to provide agricultural low-interest loans.

The only two commercial banks in California have all made their statements, and the agricultural representatives are very satisfied with this.

Subsequently, the state legislators discussed the bill of reducing or exempting agricultural taxes, and after deliberation, the state legislators finally reached a consensus.

The tax relief is only for the newly reclaimed land. The newly reclaimed land enjoys a three-year tax exemption policy, and after three years, the tax is paid normally.

The people currently engaged in agriculture in California are mainly Chinese immigrants, although they proposed a tax exemption period of five years.

But this time is mainly used for bargaining. Their bottom line is that the newly reclaimed land will be exempt from tax for two years. After negotiation, the result is three years of tax exemption, which has exceeded their bottom line expectations.

The tax exemption in California is real, and the tax exemption that can be implemented is not the tax exemption treatment that only officials and landlords and gentry can enjoy in the Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, they also accepted the result of tax exemption for three years.

This is the advantage of a small country with few people. At present, there are only two cities and one town in California, with a population of more than [-] in a very concentrated distribution. It is relatively easy to manage and the administrative cost is very low.

The government of California is only at the city level. From the state government to the city government, there are only two levels of administrative agencies, and the administrative efficiency is very high.

Although Los Angeles is still a town due to population issues, as the third largest settlement in California, Los Angeles actually enjoys the same treatment as San Francisco and Sacramento.

The various levels of parliament, government, and courts in the United States are all parallel, and there is no relationship between superiors and subordinates.

According to the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Congress, the federal government, and the courts cannot impose their will and policies on California.

Similarly, the California state-level assembly, government, and courts are also parallel, and cannot exercise jurisdiction over the city-level assembly, government, and courts.

Due to the special state conditions of California, there is already a faint trend in California that the state-level assembly government has jurisdiction over the city-level government.Two cities and one town only follow the lead of the state.

This is an unconstitutional act in the United States, and it can only happen where the American Congress and the federal government are beyond the reach.

Of course, the reason for this phenomenon is mainly at the economic level. Liang Yao is an absolute oligarch in California, and his strength is crushing other small oligarchs. Apart from him, the small oligarchs in California are more or less attached to him. As long as he exists, he has no strength to shake Liang Yao's position in California.

At all levels in California, there are others everywhere.

In the old states in the east, this is absolutely impossible.

The agricultural representatives are satisfied, and then they need to give some sweetness to the industrial and mining representatives as compensation.

Only cut the meat, do not give the meat to eat.

Even if these mine owners are a group of interests surrounding Liang Yao, Liang Yao's absolute strength in California is very strong, but sooner or later they will become lonely.

The three bills of education, currency, and agriculture are just appetizers for this state assembly meeting, and the biggest highlight is next.

Liang Yao took out the long-prepared "California Industrial Five-Year Plan (1851~1856) Draft".

(End of this chapter)